Biomolecular Click Reactions Using a Minimal pH-Activated Catcher/Tag Pair for Producing Native-Sized Spider-Silk Proteins.
Fan, R., Hakanpaa, J., Elfving, K., Taberman, H., Linder, M.B., Aranko, A.S.(2023) Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 62: e202216371-e202216371
- PubMed: 36695475 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202216371
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
8BDW - PubMed Abstract: 
A type of protein/peptide pair known as Catcher/Tag pair spontaneously forms an intermolecular isopeptide bond which can be applied for biomolecular click reactions. Covalent protein conjugation using Catcher/Tag pairs has turned out to be a valuable tool in biotechnology and biomedicines, but it is essential to increase the current toolbox of orthogonal Catcher/Tag pairs to expand the range of applications further, for example, for controlled multiple-fragment ligation. We report here the engineering of novel Catcher/Tag pairs for protein ligation, aided by a crystal structure of a minimal CnaB domain from Lactobacillus plantarum. We show that a newly engineered pair, called SilkCatcher/Tag enables efficient pH-inducible protein ligation in addition to being compatible with the widely used SpyCatcher/Tag pair. Finally, we demonstrate the use of the SilkCatcher/Tag pair in the production of native-sized highly repetitive spider-silk-like proteins with >90 % purity, which is not possible by traditional recombinant production methods.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 16100, 02150, Espoo, Finland.